Sharpton: Juries, Not Judges, for Public Servant Trials

 

Tomorrow, Al Sharpton and others will meet at SEIU local 1199’s headquarters to plan citywide protests in light of the Sean Bell verdict, which seems to put the city’s most powerful union right at his corner.

But among the remedies Sharpton said he’s seeking from lawmakers in light of the Bell tragedy is a new law stripping public employees of the right to have their cases tried by a judge instead of a jury.

Speaking at the National Action Network headquarters on 145th Street this Saturday, Sharpton said [at the 3:32 mark], “if people are on the public payroll, doing their public duty, they should be required to face a public jury. They’re not operating as private citizens.”

I’m not sure how that proposal will go over with his union allies.